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Spring 2004 Contest
Best. Game. Ever. was the first Spring Contest held on GameFAQs, in 2004. Many B8ers still consider it the best Contest ever. Ulti's Analysis Division 8 The idea of the brackets being split up by division was nice, but Division 8 suffered the most from it. A good chunk of the games here didn`t deserve to be in the contest at all, and the lack of Mega Man upset a large number of people. From the beginning, this was about Mario 3 vs Zelda 1, which was an anticlimactic as could be. Far too easy a division to call in my opinion, though I would suppose that Phantasy Star vs Contra was the sole reason 32-64 wound up being easier to predict according to percentage. That, and FF7/OOT was in that division as well. My favorite thing about this division was that the game which won the division -- Super Mario Brothers 3 -- was definitely a proper choice the game representing 8 bit gaming. Division 16 This division had the best games of any division in this contest. All 16 of these games belonged here for one reason or the other, though some of them were obviously doomed in a contest setting. It made for legendary games going down early, most notable of which are Doom and Super Metroid going down in the second round. I still can't bring it to myself to believe LTTP was only a 6 seed. Something tells me that the match between LTTP and Super Metroid was forced. The same goes for Sonic 2 vs Mario World. That's quite the odd pair of coincidences. Either way, it was the best division in the contest, complete with its final being the best match of the entire contest. I couldn't necessarily agree with Chrono Trigger being the definitive game of the 16 bit era, but it was still a good representative all the way into the finals. Great story, great gameplay, decent characters and a great game. Division 32-64 Thanks to Final Fantasy 7 and Ocarina of Time, this division had the highest prediction percentages in the entire contest. It also featured the closest match of the entire contest, and it also seemed to be a division split in half. FF7's half was loaded with Playstation titles, while OOT's half was stacked with Nintendo gems. I don't know if this happened on purpose, but it made for some wonderful irony in the end. Sadly, that irony was the only entertainment this division had to offer. Division 128 Pure and absolute hell. Never in my life did I ever think I would see a division in which only 7% of people thought that the 2 seed would make it out. This was the most stacked division, as well as the strongest overall, in the contest by far. And this was a division in which a game that wasn't even from the 128 bit era dominated the headlines. There was also another Link vs Samus match that seemed somewhat forced in Prime vs Wind Waker. I also find it interesting that Starcraft had to go through the Xbox mascot, a Square RPG, and the Zelda game of the generation before finally bowing out to the Gamecube mascot. Which, I might add, only had to go through the three big Playstation 2 hits. This wasn't an easy task, but PS2's fanbase is beatable when they're isolated. Starcraft had to face off against entire fanbases, while SSBM got little chunks. Starcraft just seemed worn down by the time the divisional finals rolled around. But hey, tt least my favorite game from the division won it all. Having faith in SSBM is probably the biggest reason I won this contest <_< See Also * 2004 Spring Contest Matches - complete writeups and information on every poll from the original Best Game Ever Contest Bracket Contest Bracket Division 8 Super Mario Bros. 3 The Legend of Zelda Super Mario Bros. 3 Chrono Trigger Chrono Trigger Final Fantasy VII Final Fantasy VII (1) Super Mario Bros. 3 (16) Metal Gear Super Mario Bros. 3 Metroid Super Mario Bros. 3 Final Fantasy (8) Metroid (9) Pac-Man (5) Phantasy Star (12) Contra Contra Final Fantasy (4) Final Fantasy (13) Pitfall (6) Donkey Kong (11) Duck Hunt Donkey Kong The Legend of Zelda The Legend of Zelda Tetris (3) The Legend of Zelda (14) Adventure (7) Pong (10) River City Ransom Pong Tetris (2) Tetris (15) Galaga Division 16 Chrono Trigger LoZ: A Link to the Past (1) Chrono Trigger (16) Secret of Mana Chrono Trigger Super Mario RPG Chrono Trigger Super Mario World (8) Super Mario RPG (9) Street Fighter II (5) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (12) Shining Force Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Super Mario World (4) Super Mario World (13) The Simpsons (6) LoZ: A Link to the Past (11) Gunstar Heroes LoZ: A Link to the Past Super Metroid LoZ: A Link to the Past Final Fantasy VI (3) Super Metroid (14) Phantasy Star IV (7) Earthbound (10) Doom Doom Final Fantasy VI (2) Final Fantasy VI (15) Mortal Kombat Division 32-64 Final Fantasy VII LoZ: Ocarina of Time Final Fantasy VII Super Smash Bros. Melee (1) Final Fantasy VII (16) Suikoden II Final Fantasy VII Xenogears Final Fantasy VII Metal Gear (8) Pokemon Gold/Silver/Crystal (9) Xenogears (5) Final Fantasy Tactics (12) Dance Dance Revolution Final Fantasy Tactics Metal Gear Solid (4) Metal Gear Solid (13) Resident Evil (6) Perfect Dark (11) Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Castlevania: Symphony of the Night Goldeneye 007 Goldeneye 007 LoZ: Ocarina of Time (3) Goldeneye 007 (14) Panzer Dragoon Saga (7) Super Mario 64 (10) NiGHTS into Dreams... Super Mario 64 LoZ: Ocarina of Time (2) LoZ: Ocarina of Time (15) Fallout 2 Division 128 Starcraft Super Smash Bros. Melee (1) Halo: Combat Evolved (16) Starcraft Starcraft Kingdom Hearts Starcraft LoZ: The Wind Waker (8) SoulCalibur (9) Kingdom Hearts (5) LoZ: The Wind Waker (12) Skies of Arcadia LoZ: The Wind Waker Metroid Prime (4) Metroid Prime (13) Half-Life (6) Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (11) Fire Emblem Final Fantasy Tactics Advance Final Fantasy X Final Fantasy X Super Smash Bros. Melee (3) Final Fantasy X (14) Shenmue (7) Grand Theft Auto: Vice City (10) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Super Smash Bros. Melee (2) Super Smash Bros. Melee (15) Metal Gear Solid 2 Ngamer's Analysis I was pumped for the Games Contest when it was announced, and enjoyed the heck out of it all the way through... even so, I think it's somewhat overrated in Best Contests lists. Yeah, all of Division 128 was fantastic, but that's only 1/4 the Contest, and outside of the modern era you just had CT/LttP, MGS/FFT, DK/DH, and then a ton of SFF killings and super-hyped matchups that ended up being busts (FF7/OoT, Mario 3/Zelda 1). Not to be too harsh, though, because like I said, 128 was so far and away the greatest Division in Contest history (plus CT/LttP is perhaps the best match ever) that even with all its faults Games '04 is still a top contender for "greatest Contest" status. Category: GameFAQs Contests